ocean jewel

Greetings all,
This is my first post so wish me luck [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

anyway, I am a dealer on the Ocean Jewel in St pete florida. i have seen some posts here about it and want to help if i can.
i know the ship can be a pain in the ass and i have no control over the weather or shuttle schedules or anything, i just deal the cards.
anyway, i want to let everyone know there has been some restructuring around the vessell, for good or bad has yet to be determined.
the new poker room hours are
sun-thur 2pm-2am
fri&sat 2pm-4am
the poker room manager is Pappy and you can email him at
emoryt@oceanjewel.com
he is in the poker room 80% of the time and he does check his email regularly while on the ship. we dont currently have a poker room phone line, so i recommend emailing him before you comeif you have any questions or want to see if there are any games or whatever.

you can also email me if you like about anything, although i will not get the email on the boat, just at home
oceanjewelpoker1@yahoo.com

hope this helps
Glen

[ChewyMint]

I sent you an e-mail regarding the poker room. Please respond ASAP.

ChewyMint

[toddw217]

Glen,
I don't post too often, but when I have recently, it has been in regards to the Ocean Jewel.

I have only been once and didn't get a chance to play poker.
I didn't have any issue with the dealers at the table games that I played at. They all did a fine job and I have no doubt the poker room is run just as well - there have been positive reviews about the room in the past.

I think the problem that I & others have(judging from other posts & stories on tv/newspaper)is the hassle of dealing with the ship.
-When there is inclement weather, that is understandable.
-Shuttle problems seem to occur much too often.
-The personnel running the ship are rude.
-The running of the ship seems poorly planned and/or poorly executed.

Hopefully these are some of the improvements you are talking about - but I won't risk dealing with all of these things again.

Take care!

[Etaipo]

Hey Glen.

I -think- I know who you are. I haven't been out for a few months now. The last time I was out there, we got stuck due to the weather, and had to take the Jewel back to shore, not a hell of a whole lot of fun. You guys did provide us a freeroll tournament to at least give us something to do, so that was cool.

I'm Jesper, if that name rings a bell. I used to be the guy trying to get a 5/10 game started all the time, but my last few visits I played NL.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know that I have always been very impressed with the attitude and PERFORMANCE of ALL of the poker room staff, but the dealers in particular. I don't think I can name one bad apple of all the dealers I've had....well, there was one lady who was awful slow, but I will give her the benefit of a doubt and assume that she was new. You guys do a terrific job.

That being said, I would probably be there every weekend, if I did not have an 1 1/2 drive to Johns Pass. It makes my commute four hours, if everything is PERFECT, which it never is, the shuttles are inevitably delayed. So in reality, I have to plan on travelling for 6 hours total, in order to play poker for x hours.

Needless to say, it's not an every weekend event.

Now, a couple of questions for you:

The poker room calendar, what happened to it? You guys used to havea a monthly calendar of what was happening, but it's gone from the website.

Tournaments....have any of your BIG tournaments ever actually happened? I know there have been a few scheduled, but as far as I know, they have all been cancelled. Not enough people signing up?

And finally, any decent tournaments coming up? I'm on vacation for a week!

I believe I will be doing the Saturday double tournaments @ Derby Lane, and depending on what time I bust out of the 6:30 tourney, maybe I'll head out to the Jewel, since I'll be in the area.

Glad to see you posting.

Jesper

[Mister Z]

What limits of HE do they spread on the Jewel?

I tried to make it on the Jewel last month... made it just in time with my buddies, and then found out if we got on (at 4pm) the next shuttle was booked up, and the one after that wouldn't leave until 1am. The parking situation was the biggest mess I'd ever seen and the scene outside the shuttle was chaos. Fortunately Gators next door has good Bloody Marys. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Etaipo]

Maybe you can fill us in on this...

http://www.baynews9.com/content/9/2005/7/22/109516.html

Not a big deal for me, the hour long shuttle ride suuuuucked.

However, I only went to John's Pass once, and the parking was a mess as the previous poster said.

When I went, there were NO signs directing you where to go. Instead, I pull in where I'm supposed to, get in line with the rest of the cars, waiting to get up front, so that the guard could tell us to turn around (this took 15 minutes).

We had to go back to the main street (gulf?), go over the bridge, and park across from the 7-11, where a shuttle would pick us up.

The 'shuttle' was a van, built to hold 10, that they crammed 17 of us in.

So, the question of the day is, where the hell are we supposed to park if we go to John's Pass? Have they put up signs?

Hey Jesper,
we have only had one tourny that actually happened and that was months ago, there is just not enough interest. the calander is gone, for how long I dont know, the guy that was doing it got transfered to a different department.
good luck in the derby tourneys
later, glen

hey mister z,
Parking sux I know, they are building a new lot , according to the news, first I heard about it, the boarding is chaos too, they put a new guy in charge of johns pass 2 days ago, time will tell if he can straighten it out. all i can say is get there early for the time being.
as for the limits.
no limit 100-300$ buy in 2&5 blinds
40-100$ buy in 1&2 blinds

structured 3-6

thats it pretty much. we will deal any game if there is anough people to get it started, but that is all we have spread in months except for the very rare 5-10 game or 7 stud

fri and sat are our busiest days with 2 3 or 4 NL games and a couple 3-6 games sunday is usually pretty solid too mon-thur is hit or miss with just one 3-6 table sometimes. NL is becoming our most popular spread. last night 4 nl games and a 3-6

we are down to just 8 dealers due to the lay offs with one dealer dual rating on weekends, so the number of tabels we can open on fri and sat is limited to about 5.
later, glen

[moose47]

When I went last weekend we had to park at Ronnie's Pancake House not far from John's Pass. We also had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to be told that as it was packed as usual. We at least had a shuttle that seemed like it could hold about 30 or so. My only complaint is the heat. It can get unbearable on parts of the ship and something really needs to be done about that.

yep, parking is a disaster, especially now that the port is closed. for the time being or forever, i dont know we are only going out of johns pass. the ride is much shorter so the fuel expense for the shuttles is much lower and they can get more people back and forth faster.
the company is "trimming the fat" so they layed off a bunch of people, the whole saphire shuttle crew and port of st pete people are gone as well as a bunch of dealers and suits.
Johns pass parking is gonna be a cluster fuk for a while. that parking lot they mentione in the news was the first i have heard about it. i dont know if it is true or not.
everything changed 2 days ago and there is a new guy running johns pass, time will tell if he does a good job. i hope the company gives him the resources he will need to straighten that mess out. I dont know what to tell you cept get there early for the time being.
I keep a bmx bike in the back of my truck, use public beach parking and ride to the shuttle [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
later, glen